Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Show no mercyAl Gore pulls no punches when he says what's on all of our minds.

[From the Move On press release] Former Vice President Al Gore delivered a major foreign policy address in New York City today, sponsored by MoveOn PAC, linking the Abu Ghraib prison abuses to deep flaws in President Bush’s Iraq policy and calling for the resignation of 6 members of the Bush Administration team responsible for the failed policy and abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The members include Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor, George Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence Agency, Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Douglas J. Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Stephen A. Cambone, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.

"George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.

"He promised to “restore honor and integrity to the White House.” Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.

"Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as “a decent respect for the opinion of mankind.” He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.

"How did we get from September 12th , 2001, when a leading French newspaper ran a giant headline with the words “We Are All Americans Now” and when we had the good will and empathy of all the world -- to the horror that we all felt in witnessing the pictures of torture in Abu Ghraib."

There are too many good and powerful lines for me do do justice to with a mere sequence of quotes. Go read the whole speech. We need more of this kind of honest and even harsh criticism. Bush has brought shame on the entire country. He has undermined our moral standing in the world, endangered our citizens, and abused his power. He does not deserve a polite benefit of the doubt. He deserves the kind of criticism that Pelosi and Gore are giving him. We need more of this.